2017 April 16

I have been so busy lately that I haven’t had a chance to do a blog post about the theater I’ve seen lately. The electronics course has mostly been responsible for my being busy—from March 20 to March 27 I was grading the huge pile of design reports for BME 51A, and classes started again on April 3. Two weeks into the new quarter, I’ve just finished grading the third set of homeworks for BME 51B, and I’m already tired of grading. (There are still six sets of exercises and five 5–10-page lab reports to come.) I have a non-course pile of “grading” to do also: I’m on a committee to evaluate 22 project reports from across the School of Engineering for Deans’ and Chancellor’s Awards. I’ve looked at four of them so far, and I have about a week to finish them. They are a bit bigger than the little design reports (7–67 pages), but generally better written, and I don’t have to read them closely—just rank them to figure out which are the most award worthy.

But since I have my homework graded, I’ll take a break to list some of the plays I’ve seen lately:

date

title

playwright

theater company

March 25

Dance of Death

Strindberg

Jewel Theatre

March 29

Julius Ceasar

Shakespeare

Oregon Shakespeare Festival

March 29

Shakespeare in Love

Norman/Stoppard/Hall

Oregon Shakespeare Festival

March 30

Henry IV, Part One

Shakespeare

Oregon Shakespeare Festival

March 31

Hannah and the Dread Gazebo

Jiehae Park

Oregon Shakespeare Festival

March 31

Mojada: a Medea in Los Angeles

Luis Alfaro

Oregon Shakespeare Festival

April 15

The Nether

Jennifer Haley

SeeTheatre

The Strindberg play did not quite sell out the Colligan Theater, but it was well attended by the usual crowd of white-haired theater goers. Julie James gave herself one of the leads (what’s the point of owning a theater company if you don’t get to play lead?), but this time she was well-cast in a part that matched her skills, unlike some of her earlier attempts to play parts for women 20 years younger. The play was well-acted, but the directorial decision to use MP3 players and laptops jarred with the text in several places. The set was a bit generic, but the costumes were good. Overall, I think that we all enjoyed seeing the play, but have no particular desire to see another production of it ever—it just isn’t that gripping a story.

Over Spring break, my son and I both traveled by bus with people from Santa Cruz Shakespeare (staff, board members, and donors) up to Ashland, Oregon to see 5 plays there, to get a backstage tour, and to get a tour of the new production facilities in Talent, OR. My wife was unable to go, as her spring break is a week later than UCSC’s and UCSB’s.

Of the five plays we saw, Shakespeare in Love was the most fun, Mojada had the strongest emotional impact, and Hannah and the Dread Gazebo was the most thought-provoking. The two Shakespeare plays were the weakest productions.

The Julius Ceasar was a rather lack-luster production, with little attempt to get inside the characters’ heads, just showing us the public faces. I found the Brutus (played by Danforth Comins) particularly disappointing, portraying Brutus as a weak and vacillating figure, rather than a man of strong principles who was so moral that he attributed high principles to everyone around him. The dance theater elements really left me cold—it felt like I was watching a poorly produced music video on YouTube. The kata at the end seemed endless and monotonous. Others in our group had much more positive reactions to the play, and the reactions seemed to split based on whether or not people liked to watch dance. The dance fans loved the play, and the non-dance fans did not.

The Henry IV, part 1 had a good Falstaff (G. Valmont Thomas) who was an excellent physical comic, and they really played the Eastcheap tavern scenes for all they could milk out of them, but the second half of the play fell flat. Some of the cross-gender casting worked well (Lauren Modica as Glendower, for example), but I was not thrilled by Alejandra Escalante as Hotspur. Don’t get me wrong—Ms. Escalante did a superb job of acting, but the machismo of the part made it very difficult. (Note: I’m not at all opposed to cross-gender casting—last year’s female Hamlet at Santa Cruz Shakespeare was by far the best Hamlet I’ve seen.) I think it would have been more interesting (though even more difficult) to make Hal be the female character—the father’s disappointment at not having a worthy son and Hal’s subsequent attempt to live up to the father’s dreams could have worked quite well as a female role, though the desire to keep the same actor for Henry IV, part 2 and for Henry V would have required a much bigger commitment to a female lead. Some of our party thought that Falstaff’s comic acting was too much like minstrel shows, with too much caricature of black culture. Others were uncertain whether Mr. Thomas was being directed to this caricature, or whether it was just his style of comic acting—I’m sure that black comics actors are forever wrestling with the dilemma of how to be funny to a wide audience without being disrespectful to their peers. I’d be interested in hearing how black theatergoers react to his Falstaff.

Shakespeare in Love is a delightful romp through a lot of Shakespearean references (as well as big parts of Romeo and Juliet), and the actors and actresses all seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. The play is pretty close to the movie (at least as I remember the movie), which is unusual in a stage-play adaptation of a movie. I was impressed by the teen actor playing John Webster (Preston Mead)—he did a good job of portraying a particularly ghoulish character.I think that this play will have the widest audience appeal of any of the five we saw.

Hannah and the Dread Gazebo was the strangest play I’ve seen in some time, with a lot of dream sequences and non-linear story telling. All the money for the set was spent on a massive wall that tilted down to make a rooftop. We were told that the counterweight for the wall weighed 8000 pounds, and that combined with the rest of the wall, the total weight was around 10000 lbs. The counterweight was not taken out of the theater on the twice daily set changes, but the rest of the set was. I was particularly impressed with the lighting design (by David Weiner), as the set took on very different characteristics with no change in the set pieces, just from the lighting. The only disappointing set piece was the “gazebo” at the end, which was symbolically represented by a chandelier—this felt like a we’ve-already-overspent-our-budget move, rather than an artisitic choice. The quick costume changes needed by the Shapeshifter (Jessica Ko) were also technically very challenging (some of the changes had to happen on stage, as there was only 5–10 seconds for them). The play had an emotional resonance for some of the Asian-Americans in our group and perhaps a few other second-generation immigrants, but I found it more of an intellectual puzzle than an emotional play (despite being a second-generation immigrant myself). I really needed more time to ponder it, but we had Mojada to see the same evening, which rather cut short my time for rumination.

Mojada was definitely a gut-punching play (as you would expect from any adaptation of Medea). The script kept many of the elements of Euripedes’s play, though a number of characters were conflated to reduce the cast size. The acting was strong, but I found the set rather distracting—trying to make an L.A. slum apartment look like Baba Yaga’s hut was a little too strained. They might have been better off producing the play on a bare stage.

The high point of the trip to Ashland was not the five plays (though they were definitely worth seeing—or the 3 non-Shakespeare ones were). The high point was visiting the production facilities in Talent, OR. The custom-built space is a Makerspace par excellence for theater lovers. They have all the usual tools: 3D printers, laser cutter, CNC router, CNC lathe, machine shop, two wood shops (props and scenery), spray paint booth big enough for a car, robotics workshop, … with huge amounts of space. One wall of the paint shop has a grid large enough to hang the largest flies that any of their theaters can use, with theatrical lighting for it so that they can paint the backdrops vertically, rather than having to lay them on the floor. Their scene shop has a full-size mockup of the theater stages, complete with a 14-foot-deep pit for testing lifts to the stage, and that mockup is a small fraction of the whole scene shop.

Almost half the building is taken up with storage for costumes and props. The costume collection is amazing, and they rent out everything to theater companies and schools (with a big discount for community theaters and schools). Almost everything is photographed and indexed on the web (https://www.osfcostumerentals.org/OSF-Costume-Rentals). The props are not so well indexed nor do they have a formal rental program, though they have occasionally rented out pieces on a case-by-case basis.

This wall of shoes is part of the shorter wall of the room—the long wall would not fit in any of my pictures, nor would the many rows of racks double-height racks of clothes.

I took a few pictures in the costume storage area, but none were able to capture the sheer magnitude of the space and the overwhelming number and variety of costumes. This picture shows just a tiny fraction.

The most recent play I’ve seen is Jennifer Haley’s The Nether, which is still showing at Center Stage (through April 29). The play is intended to be thought-provoking (about what standards should apply to online entertainments), but the themes are a bit tough for many audience members: child abuse and murder of virtual characters. Like in many science fiction works, there was a bit too much exposition, but the actors managed to keep things moving despite that. The highlight of the play was the performance by Olivia Gillanders, a fourth-grade student who played the role of Iris, the child avatar that is abused and murdered (off-stage). Nick Bilardello as Mr. Doyle and Andrew Davids as Mr. Sims were also quite good. I felt that the April Bennett (as Detective Morris) and Robert Gerbode (as Woodnut), did decent jobs, but were not up to the caliber of the rest of the cast—their delivery was sometimes a bit wooden, and the characters lacked the intensity of the others. Part of that may be in the script—the characters didn’t have as good lines—but they could have done more with what they had to work with.

The set was very simple, being split between an interrogation room (stage right) and the virtual world called the Hideaway (stage left). The interrogation room was done in greys and ultra-utilitarian furniture, while the Hideaway attempted to be a lush Victorian parlor (not quite successfully, as the theater company lacked the budget, but well enough to give the impression of a virtual-world Victorian parlor).

I felt a little sorry for the actors, as the house was only about half full last night (I don’t think I’ve ever been to a production at Center Stage that was not sold out before, as the house only seats 89 including the wheelchair spot). The play is worth seeing, and there are two more weekends (tickets at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2729920). I recommend that people buy tickets, even if they can’t go, in order to keep small theater companies from going bankrupt in Santa Cruz.

In addition to these plays, other recent cultural events include Viva La Lehrer IV (April 8 @ Kuumbwa Jazz, a celebration of Tom Lehrer songs) and a visit to the crochet coral reef on display at the Porter Sesnon Gallery at UCSC (which my wife and I went to April 14).

The Lehrer songs were fun, though I could quibble with some of their selections and how much time they gave to the weaker performers compared to the stronger ones—I don’t feel any need to go to Viva La Lehrer again for about another 5 years.

The CO2CA-CO2LA Coral Reef exhibit runs at the Sesnon gallery until May 6. I recommend it for kids as well as for adults (one part is mounted in a dark room that you explore with flashlights).

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2016 July 19

Americans for the Arts Public Opinion Poll Overview has recently published a summary of their opinion poll about the arts. It does not come as a surprise to me that people are broadly in favor of the arts and participate at a moderately high rate—the questions are “motherhood-and-apple-pie” questions that would be difficult to disagree with. Some numbers are a bit lower than I would hope to see—only 68% of adults attended an arts event in the past year, and some are higher than I would expect—27% donated to an arts organization.

What Americans Believe About the Arts

The American public is more broadly engaged in the arts than previously understood—believing that the arts not only play a vital role in personal well-being and healthier communities, but that the arts are also core to a well-rounded education.

1. “The arts provide meaning to our lives.” 63 percent of the population believe the arts “lift me up beyond everyday experiences,” 64 percent feel the arts give them “pure pleasure to experience and participate in,” and 73 percent say the arts are a “positive experience in a troubled world.”

2. “Most of us seek out arts experiences.” Seven in 10 American adults (68 percent) attended an arts event in the past year, like going to the theater, museum, zoo, or a musical performance.

3. “We often experience the arts in unexpected places.” An even greater proportion of Americans (77 percent) say they experienced the arts in a “non-arts” venue such as a park, hospital, shopping mall, or airport.

4. “Across demographic groups, the arts are part of our lives.” People of color were more likely to attend an arts event than their white counterparts (71 percent vs. 66 percent). Higher rates of attendance for people of color were noted for multiple art forms, including dance, museums, and theater.

5. “Arts institutions add value to our communities.” Regardless of whether people engage with the arts or not, 87 percent believe they are important to quality of life, and 82 percent believe they are important to local businesses and the economy.

6. “We donate to the arts.” 27 percent of the population (more than 1 in 4 Americans) made a donation to an arts, culture, or public broadcasting organization within the past year. Donors were typically younger and had higher incomes and education.

7. “We will support candidates who want to increase arts funding.” Americans are more than twice as likely to vote in favor of a candidate who increases arts spending from 45 cents to $1 per person than to vote against them (37 percent in favor, 16 percent against).

8. “We believe the arts are part of a well-rounded education.” Nine in ten American adults (88 percent) agree that the arts are part of a well-rounded K-12 education.

9. “We believe the arts should be taught in grades K–12.” 90 percent believe students should receive an education in the arts in elementary school, middle school, and high school. 82 percent say the arts should also be taught outside of the classroom in the community.

10. “We are making art in our personal time.” Half of all Americans are personally involved in artistic activities (49 percent) such as painting, singing in a choir, making crafts, writing poetry, or playing music.

11. “We engage in the arts because it makes us feel creative.” Among those who are personally involved in making art or displaying art in their home, 60 percent say that “arts and music outside of the home” makes them feel more creative—a rate that jumps to 70 percent for Millennials.

12. “Social media increases our exposure to the arts.” 53 percent of social media users say that they are more exposed to the arts thanks to connecting online. 59 percent agree that art created on social media is a legitimate form of art.

13. “Yes! Tattoos are art.” 27 percent of Americans boast a tattoo (12 percent have more than one). Three-quarters believe that tattoos are a form of art (73 percent).

15. “Despite the benefits the arts provide, not everyone in our communities has equal access to the arts.” Despite the individual and community benefits, just 45 percent believe that “everyone in their community has equal access to the arts.”

Source: Americans Speak Out About The Arts, Americans for the Arts. 2016.

*The 3,020 respondents self-identified by race and Hispanic ethnicity. For the report, the “white” category is non-Hispanic whites. Included in the “people of color” category are blacks, Asians, all Hispanics, and others.

I’ll have to dive into the full report or even the supplementary data tables to see exactly what questions were asked and what biases there were in the survey. One that they note is that the survey was done online, and that the non-white subset of the sample skewed somewhat higher on education and wealth than the non-white population as a whole.

The higher attendance by non-whites coupled with the perception of unequal access is a little disturbing—particularly given the emphasis on appeals to elderly white people by so many of our major cultural institutions. Of course, there is an obvious reason for the the appeals to old white people—the same reason that people rob banks: because that’s where the money is. But younger generations are more interested in the arts, and so more should be done to incorporate them into the life of our arts institutions.

I am pleased that our local museum, Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, makes a point of reaching out to the whole community and attempting to bridge divides. I think that they have done an excellent job of including young folk (high-school and college age) in their events and planning, as well as a moderately good job of including Mexican culture (the main non-white culture in our area). I think that there is more to be done in incorporating Mexican and local Mexican-American art into the museum. They did recently have a very good display of the Kinsey African-American Art and History Collection, even though the African-American population in Santa Cruz County is quite small—about 1.4% according to the US Census. The Hispanic population is about 33.3%.

I was a little surprised that the poll found that 27% of the population have tattoos—in Santa Cruz, I would find an even larger number credible, but in the Midwest the numbers are likely much smaller. I wonder whether this number indicates a sampling bias in the survey, which would call all the numbers into question, or if tattoos really have become so mainstream.

I’m also a little surprised that MAH has not done a tattoo art exhibit yet (or did I miss one?), since tattoo art has been a big thing in Santa Cruz for a long time. For those of you who care, I don’t have any tattoos—not from any philosophical, religious, or æsthetic reason, but because I’ve never been able to think of any artwork that I’d be happy to have on my body permanently (also, I dislike pain).

I was interested in seeing what “arts and culture” events were the most popular (in terms of attendance in the previous year):

Zoo, aquarium, or botanical garden 36%

Historic site 30%

Musical performance (Classical or popular) 29%

Museum of history or science (including children’s museums) 25%

Theater performance 24%

Museum of art 23%

Visual arts, crafts exhibition, art gallery 22%

Opera/musical theater 13%

Dance performance 13%

Art or film festival 12%

Literary event 8%

Other 3%

None 32%

I’m surprised that they did not include a category for arts and crafts fairs, antiques fairs, maker fairs, Renaissance fairs, and so forth—many people attend such events, but would probably not think of them in the context of this survey.

I also wonder how much of the attendance is “for the children’s sake” rather than personal interest—the heavy emphasis on zoos, aquaria, historic sites, history and science museums suggests that there may be some deliberate educational component for kids, rather than personal enjoyment. (I go to science museums and aquaria for fun when I travel, but many people do it only with kids.)

I note that theater minus musical theater is still at 11%, almost as big as opera/musical theater alone, which is pleasing but surprising—musical theater seems to get a lot more advertising and get performed in much larger venues than non-musical theater.

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2015 December 5

A couple of weeks ago, I saw an announcement for a free drawing class for absolute beginners mentioned on a home-school mailing list that I subscribe to, and I thought briefly about joining it. I’ve never been able to draw, even as a kid, and this skill is one that I do feel the lack of. It would be nice to be able to sketch things and have them be at least vaguely recognizable by others.

I had followed up on the e-mail announcement enough to find the announcement on the web page of the store where the free class was being held (Lenz Arts):

Drawing for Absolute Beginners

Saturday, December 5, 1-3 p.m.

Rob Court

The easy-going and encouraging Rob Court, local drawing coach from The Scribbles Institute, will be conducting a hands-on introductory drawing class for people who are scared of drawing. He’ll cover how to hold a pencil, drawing from observation, and basic composition. This is a session for rank beginners!Class space is limited. The class is free but there is $5 deposit which will be refunded in the form of a store credit when you arrive for the class. (“No-show = no dough!”) Students are required to have a 9×12 sketch pad and 2B, 4B and 8B drawing pencils. Students may buy a sketch pad at 30% off for the class!

Yesterday, when I found that I would not have a huge grading load this weekend, I called up Lenz Arts to find out whether there was still room—there was, so I signed up for the 2-hour class.

My wife loaned me some drawing pencils (she can draw and has taken several art classes in the past, though none recently), and I bought a sketchpad (Caslon XL recycled paper) at the store when I got there. I also bought an 8B pencil, which it turned out I did not need—having just a 4B pencil would have been enough for the class.

Because I had seen the announcement on a home-school mailing list, I was expecting to be in a class with a bunch of kids, but it turned out that I was the youngest student there—the man sitting next to me volunteered that he was 80 years old and the two women were probably in their late 60s or early 70s (I didn’t ask). I was the only one there who had not taken art classes as an adult, but we were all beginners at sketching.

The advertising blurb “easy-going and encouraging” turned out to be accurate—Rob managed to keep us all relaxed, while providing useful but non-judgmental feedback. There were only four of us, so we got a fair amount of attention.

In order to get us to loosen up and draw more freely, he had us all use an overhand grip on the pencil, rather than the tripod grip usually used for writing. I found it a bit difficult to get light lines with the overhand grip and a 4B pencil, so I switched to the underhand grip (which he also showed us) for a couple of the preliminary sketches—that made it easier for me to do the light initial lines.

The lesson consisted of five drawings of gradually increasing complexity. The first three reminded me a lot of the Ed Emberley drawing books for kids (some of which we had bought for my son when he was in elementary school), but the fourth one was more detailed, and the last one was a sketch from a photograph.

None of the sketches I made were “good” in any objective sense, but the class was fun and I learned the beginnings of some pencil skills. If I get some spare time, I might take more classes from Rob in future. I understand that he has a regular weekly session for adults on Wednesdays 6–9pm (for kids 13–17 years old on Thursdays), as well as “Draw With Your Kids” programs and more specialized weekend workshops. One of the specialized workshops is on iPad Drawing using the Paper 53 app, which is a relatively new medium.

According to the rates page on his web site, his small group classes cost $150/month (4 2-hour sessions) and his 3-hour workshops $45, so his classes usually run $15–$19/hour. That means that today’s 2-hour free lesson was worth about $30–$40. That’s quite a bit more expensive per hour than the $171 I would pay for a 3-unit drawing course at Cabrillo College, which meets 6 hours a week for 13 weeks. Of course, the class sizes are larger at Cabrillo and I would have difficulty getting into them (they fill up quickly). I can’t afford the time to get to Cabrillo for classes anyway—except perhaps in the summer. I’m not even sure I can afford the time for 2-hour evening courses 4 weeks in a row.

A group of artists are collaborating with scientists of the USGS (who happen to share the Wrigley building with a gallery) to do an art show inspired by the research the scientists are doing. The show is 2012 June 1–28, in the R. Blitzer Gallery. The gallery has apparently been open for about a year (many of the events in their “event archives” lack information about what year they were), but I’ve never been there, since it is tucked away in an industrial neighborhood on Westside.

The Kickstarter project is not a make-or-break thing for the show—it will enable creating a 24-page catalog for the show and help cover artists’ costs of materials. I donated a bit to the Kickstarter project anyway—it seems like a worthy project.

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2011 September 19

For 26 years now, there has been an annual Open Studios Art Tour in Santa Cruz County, run by the Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County. Almost every year, I go to the preview show at the Santa Cruz Art League and visit a few studios of artists whose work I particularly admire (or who happen to be very close geographically to ones I admire). Even in years when I have not felt up to visiting studios, I have still bought the calendar/catalog/map of Open Studios (an essential tool if you are going to visit studios).

Because the tour is spread out over the whole county, and I visit the studios by bicycle, I tend to visit only those that are within about 3 miles of my house. In earlier years, when I was willing to spend more time on Open Studios, I would do a full day of biking to visit some of the studios in the south part of the county, but I no longer feel much like riding 40 or 50 miles to visit studios. Luckily, almost half the studios are within my self-imposed radius, so I still have over 100 studios to choose from—more than I can reasonably visit. For the rest, I have to be content with one piece per artist at the preview.

Last year I posted pictures of a few items from the preview show, but never got around to posting pictures from the tour itself, mainly because most of the pictures I took last year did not do justice to the work, and I did not want to offend the artists by putting out low-quality images of their work. Just to give a taste of Open Studios, I provide a few of those here, despite the low quality (go to the artists’ websites to get their own pictures of their work).

First, my favorite potters, the Barisofs, who have been professional potters in Santa Cruz County for over 30 years.

A display in the entryway for the Barisofs' home and studio.

Although the Barisofs have many styles (and I've bought examples of most), I'm particularly partial to their face mugs (and to their red copper glaze, which they don't use in the face mug series).

The Barisofs recently announced this year’s Open Studios to the Alternative Family Education home school families:

We hope you can bring your students to as many artists as is practical during the upcoming Open Studios event. This is the 26th year! It isn’t a sales only type of event (though the artists do have bills to pay), but their processes are also on display with some giving demonstrations for an educational component. Our home/studios will also be open, for more info on what we will be showing, when, and a link to the OS event webpage go to: Pottery by Barisof. We look forward to seeing old friends, and meeting new ones!

I do have one disagreement with their sentiment here: I find it better to visit the preview show and select only a dozen or so studios to visit, rather than “as many as practical”. I find that if I visit too many artists, I burn out and enjoy the event less. I try to visit a few favorites and a few new studios each year. I also enjoy visiting studios that are demonstrating their techniques (particularly flashy things like glass blowing, or retro-techie things like linotype printing), and wish that the preview and calendar/catalog would make it clearer who is demonstrating techniques.

One artist whose studio I visited for the first time last year is Doug Ross.

A silkscreen by Doug Ross, who has a series of bicycle prints, as well as more popular animal prints.

Always popular are Moto Ohtake‘s mobiles, though my still picture does not convey the real effect of these—you really need to see them in person (or at least view the videos on Moto Ohtake’s website).